[Publib] Director Selection

[Karen Mahnk]

The ALA CPLA program is a very important move in this direction, IMHO.
I've found that the course is useful in not only in promoting
best-practices standards but helps new Directors confirm their skills
- more so than actually teaching them.  It's also useful as a
negotiating tool w/ Boards & other governing political parties. Rather
than considering a challenged decision as a personal one by the
Director, the Director can point to set ALA guidelines as well as CPLA
certification to reflect their "level of expertise" w/ ALA guidelines,
etc. It "depersonalizes" the issue to a certain degree and most people
have a natural inclination to trust "experts".  Most outside
librarianship don't even know what educational level/degree librarians
have, but "certification" is a widely understood gauge of  expertise
level.
Politics is seldom that neat, but arguing from set "industry
standards"  is a better vantage point from which to avoid the messiest
of political conflicts.                   This discussion evidences
the importance of public(non-librarian) perception as a prime factor
in the health & future of the library profession.
Karen

On 7/9/07, Edward Trever <etrever at lincolncounty.org> wrote:
> I was fortunate enough to have had a number of other relevant management
> courses while I went for my bachelors degree.  I had several government
> courses, economics, and a business minor.  As a recreation major, I received
> training in programming, maintenance, and a variety of management tasks
> through an internship under the direction of a small town recreation
> director.  I feel all of this background has been helpful.
>
> Library school can only provide so much management information in a 30-36
> hour program.  Work experience, management institutes and the like are
> needed to complement what is learned in library school.
>
> Ed Trever
> Lincoln County Library Director
> 306 W. Main St.
> Lincolnton, NC 28092
> (704) 735-8044
> Fax (704) 732-9042
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Buzzy Nielsen" <remnilk at hotmail.com>
> To: <publib at webjunction.org>
> Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2007 8:53 AM
> Subject: Re: [Publib] Director Selection
>
>
> I wholeheartedly agree that library managers should be aware of what
> their libraries and librarians are doing. However, I can also see where
> a library might want someone with a broad range of other experience as
> well. Our professional training decently prepares us to be reference
> librarians, catalogers, archivists, and the like. What it fails to teach
> us are basic management skills. By the time you become director of a
> medium-to-large public or academic library, your responsibilities often
> belong more in the realm of public management than library science. It
> would be nice if we could encourage librarians to pursue more management
> training, as with the ALA's CPLA program. Perhaps such programs would
> increase the pool of qualified applicants for director positions.
>
> Cheers!
> Buzzy Nielsen
> MSI/MPP candidate, 2008
> University of Michigan
>
>
>
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-- 
Karen Mahnk,
Reference Librarian
Lake Park Public Library
529 Park Avenue
Lake Park, Fl., 33403
561 881-3330 Fax: 561881-3336
kmahnk at lakeparkflorida.gov
www.lakepark-fl.gov